I work at a cash-only business (cannabis dispensary) and have a personal side hustle selling rodents I raise at home, which mostly involves me receiving cash payments, with an occasional PayPal deposit instead.
Before my current job, but still during the pandemic quarantine, I worked as a cashier at a grocery store.
I probably handle more stripper butt-wipes in an hour than y’all see in a month.
Here’s a bit I wrote from a thread three years ago:
And a little more from a thread last April:
I’m fully plastic, and yet will take a pen and write a check, put it in the mail with a stamp to pay the full amount every month. Jesus Christ. What is wrong with me?
I did notice the advice to have smaller bills in our stash and agree that its a good idea. Hubs has indicated agreement as well.
The issue stores have around here has never been forgery worries, its about big bills causing them to run out of change.
I usually get $200 from the bank and refresh it when it gets down to $50 or so. Typically that would last two months or so, though with COVID I think I only withdrew once back at the start of lockdown. Also, I when I throw parties (which, again, is not a ‘this year’ thing) I put out a tip jar to defray costs, and since I usually buy stuff with plastic, that also replentished my cash supply. I also keep a $20 buried in the car in case I get stranded somewhere and need to get gas to get home - I have only used it once since I entered the plastic era, and that was because I left my wallet at home and needed lunch, but on the off chance that cards aren’t working I can get some caffeine and half a tank of gas. I also keep a lump of cash (between $500 and $1000) in my gun safe in case I need it - mostly this has gotten drawn from to pay contractors who prefer cash, but it could be handy in the aftermath of a hurricane or something similar. I count that big lump of money as part of my ‘cash’ savings, and am not worried about missing the .3% interest I could get on it if I put it in a bank.
For some stores, big bills also mean having too much cash on hand - if you can expect that a convenience store won’t have anything bigger than a $20 in the register, it’s a less tempting robbery target than one that you know will have several $100s on any given day. Same with individuals, pizza delivery drivers don’t want to be running around with several hundred dollars on hand to be able to handle several houses dropping a $100 to pay for an order.
One other thing:
Parking meters.
Several years ago Ann Arbor changed many of its old-school parking meters (where you pay with coins in a meter at your particular parking spot) to a modern system where you pay at a centralized location somewhere within ~50 feet of your car, after having made a note of your parking spot number. The pay station accepts coins or credit cards, and you can also pay through a smartphone app. However, the app charges an outlandish transaction fee, and using the credit card at the pay station really does take far longer than paying with coins - so much so that if I’m waiting for someone else to pay for their spot with a credit card, I’ll walk down the block to a vacant pay station to pay with coins. So maybe once or twice a year I go to the bank and buy a few rolls of quarters so I can keep my car’s ashtray full for just such occasions.
That must depend on where you are. The ATMs I use still give nothing but 20s. I think that even if I wanted a 50, I would have to go into a bank and ask for it.
Like many people have said, I mostly pay for things with my debit card, and pay bills online, but I do try to keep $50-100 in cash around for emergencies. It did come in handy a couple of weeks ago, when I went through the drive-through at Subway. Their credit card machine wasn’t working, so they were accepting cash only. Luckily I had enough in my wallet to pay for lunch.
I can understand for some very small stores. Many stores around here have a drop safe and not much money in the register, but change for a $100 bill could empty out their register.
I can get 50s or 100s from the nearby BoA ATM. It lets me select from 10s, 20s, 50s, and 100s.
Cash is still king in private sales, everything from couches to video game consoles to horses and vehicles. Most every other form of payment has greater scam potential or complications.
“Cash is king” means that cash buyers can get better deals. If I have 2 offers on my house for the same price, I’m going to pick the one offering cash, because it’s less likely to go sideways.
I always do seem to have between $1 and $20 in my wallet left over from some mandatory-cash purchase, but I usually end up giving it to my kids for the ice cream truck or something.
yeah, I hate those. However, Seattle now allows you to pay via an app, which I love. I thought I was going to be 30 minutes, but it ended up being about 90. I could add time from my phone without returning to my car.
That’s true. 2 years ago on a visit to NYC, the ATMs gave 50 dollar bills when they could - but ones near home (DC 'burbs) gave 20s. And the only ATM we routinely use has started with the 50s in recent months, but it’s possible others locally still give 20s.
Huh? All of the larger chain convenience stores (7-11, Wawa, etc.) have free ATMs (it drives foot traffic into their stores). My bank doesn’t charge me for foreign ATM withdrawals (if yours does, you’re a sucker) & there’s almost always one along the way & I’m sometimes already stopping in there anyway. Not so much in the grocery store but in a convenience store or a fast food place I frequently have exact change ready & in hand when I get to the register, no waiting at all.
At least pre-COVID, groceries, gas, food-on-the-go (ie fast food) & beer tab were all in cash; it’s a great way to not overspend. Take out what I think I need on the weekend & it’ll get me thru the week. Yes, I keep extra cash to the side in the wallet & have credit cards there as well but if I spent too much early in the week, I’ll skimp at the end, whether that means one less lunch out or shorter/no happy hour; it’s much more visible than having to log into your bank acct & look at the balance. It’s a good system for both the bottom line & the waistline.
Early in COVID, I was going to the grocery store less frequently but buying more & not going anywhere else so that mucked everything up. Now that life has settled in a bit I’m closer to back to old habits as I’ve learned how to adjust to these ‘unprecedented’ times
Apparently, I have $5 in my wallet. I had not idea it was there or how long its been there. I haven’t been to an ATM in more than a year. I got some cash about a year ago as a present or something so it may be left over from that. I write checks more that I use cash and I’ve been out of checks and meaning to order more for 6 months so when I need a check I drive 30 min to the bank for a tellers check.
Do you know whose face is on that $5 bill?
Without looking, I think Jackson why?
Well, assuming your local McDonald’s will accept a $50, it doesn’t seem a like big deal - you’ve now got the two $20 you would have had originally, along with the $10, $5 and whatever other change after sales tax that your hypothetical $20 would have been changed into.
This thread: They walk among us. You may not want to look.
Huh, yep, I screwed that up. Further proof I’m a millennial.
Card only here. Only time I have cash is either to chuck a fifty into kid’s birthday cards, or when travelling in SE Asia to give to taxi drivers, in markets and for buying street food.